


The Story behind the Bear

by IncaSisters



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Max has great friends, Max needs to stop making me cry, Nikki and Neil are amazing friends, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncaSisters/pseuds/IncaSisters
Summary: Takes place right after "Gwen gets a Job" (Season 2, episode 8)Ever wonder what happens at the end of that episode? Because I have. Wrote a small story that can be seen as the aftermath of Gwen exposing him and his conflicts, and also about why Max loves his bear so deeply.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told y'all I'll be back :D 
> 
> Enjoy!

Laughter... that’s all Max heard as he stood there, in front of the mess hall. He looked down at the bear that was laying in the ground and back up to his friends. They were all pointing fingers at him and he wasn’t sure what to do, he just kinda stood there. He wasn’t used to being the one being picked on, but he wasn’t going to let his so-called friends get the better of him.

He just let out an annoyed sigh, “Ha Ha Very funny, why don’t you assholes go annoy the shit out of someone else?” Max rolled his eyes and picked the bear off the ground. 

Nerf, the leader of the mocking laughter snickered, “HA HA YOU BABY! No one uses a teddy bear anymore! Also, we have no one else to annoy…,” Nerf stepped closer to Max, placing his hand on Max's' shoulder. “You put this on yourself… you know, for needing a teddy bear” 

Max took a step back, “I don't need it.”

“Okay, but you have it…people usually have stuffed animals and objects that hold meaning because they desire comfort and they obtain that desire through said object. Here, in this case, it’s a teddy bear. I understand that this is something you feel an attachment to and maybe one- if not the only thing you love...but for the sake of my character and reputation, it's my duty to make it seem like you're a little pussy so… HAHA!” 

Everyone else kept on laughing. 

Max gripped the bear tighter, “That doesn't mean I-”

Nerris cut him off, “Come on Max, not even Harrison owns toy, and I’ll say he’s one of the weakest ugly mythical beast tamer there is… We didn't expect YOU to have one-” 

Harrison smacked his teeth and frowned, “Shut up. I do great magic!”

Max didn't say anything. 

“Awwww, does little Max miss mommy and daddy?” Nerf poked Max and grabbed his bear, to which Max instinctively tried to take back, “Ha look at him! He does!” Nerf held the bear high above his head.

Max was tempted to reach up and try to grab it, but he wasn’t in the mood to embarrass himself even more. Also, Nerf didn't know shit about his parents. Sure, half the things they were saying were true, but people didn’t need to know it. 

Max did the first thing the thought of and kicked Nerf in the shins causing him to drop the bear. He quickly picked it up, “Fuck all of you.” Max flipped them off and walked towards his tent.

As he was walking he heard someone walk up behind him, “Nikki not now-”

“Actually…” The voice wasn’t the voice Max had expected it to be. He turned around and realized it wasn’t Nikki, it was Preston. 

Max sighed, “Can I help you?”

“So, you know how I’m known for being able to read people right? Well, I have got to say… your performance could have used a bit more emphasis.”

“What?” Stood still and looked towards Preston, who was walking behind him. 

“You have to sell, not tell, I would have thought you were good at lying but boy-oh-boy was I wrong.”

Max rolled his eyes, “Bye Preston” 

“Wait no! I’m telling you, you aren’t fooling anyone! We both know you love that stuffed toy - what’s his name again? Mr.-”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Mr. Shut-the-fuck-up…. Fitting. I could've sworn I heard you call him something else. ” Preston smiled, but not in a mean way, “I’ll leave you to it, Max.” 

Max watched as Preston made his way back to the mess hall and he kept on walking towards his tent.

“If it makes you feel any better, I sleep with my spaceship.” Space Kid appeared out of nowhere holding a small stuffed spaceship.

Max ignored him. He didn’t need his pity and he also didn’t feel like dealing with him. 

Space Kid was expecting a response but when he didn’t get one he just smiled, “Oh okay. See ya, Max.” 

He walked inside his tent and plopped himself on his bed. He still had his bear in his hands and began picking the dirt off. He actually missed his bear. He remembered the panic that overtook him the day the stupid scouts took him. The frustration he felt when he realized he could never really tell anyone because then people would know he has a teddy bear. And that was a big no.

He held the bear close to him and rolled over in his bed. That bear was the only thing that proves that someone actually loves him. Someone actually cares. 

“Fuck.” 

He felt tears fill his eyes and he shut them tight so they won't fall. He wasn't crying about how his friends treated him though, he could care less... Although it would be pretty annoying to have to deal with their constant reminder that he owns a fucking teddy bear. He was crying more over the fact that his life was so fucked up… He relies on an inanimate object to calm him down, how pathetic is that? Everyone else has someone they can turn to in their family, he has no one. Which sucks because parent’s day is literally in like two weeks… but, he’ll cross that bridge when he gets there. 

Max stared at the tent walls, letting his mind bring back memories he wishes weren't over and hope he doesn't want to hope for… If that makes sense… but of course, nothing Max ever thought of concerning his family made sense. 

He wiped away the tears with the sleeves of his hoodie and drifted into a dreamless sleep. 

Outside, back at the mess hall, all the campers had dispersed. Neil was with Nikki eating a pudding cup. 

“Max has been gone an awfully long time,” Nikki said with her mouth full of pudding. 

Neil shrugged, “He’s probably still in his tent or something. He’s fine.”

Nikki smiled at Neil, “Yeah, He’s Max.” 

“Exactly.” 

They both sat there and finished their pudding cups. Neil looked over to Nikki who was throwing away the plastic containers into the trash, “So, we should go check on him, right?”

“If you want to.” He didn’t want to seem like he was worried about him. 

Neil looked out the window towards the camp tents. He hummed in thought. “Well, actually, I don't-” He was cut off by the sound of the door, and Nikki was gone. Neil sighed, “Jesus Christ…”

Nikki made her way towards Max's tent, which was also Neil's tent. She was about to step inside before Neil pulled her back. “OOF”

“You can't just barge into someone's tent Nikki, you have to knock first.”

“But there is nowhere to knock-”

“The tent flap thing can make a noise”

“But wouldn't that open the tent?”

“Not if-”

“God Dammit will you two shut the fuck up?” Max stood at the entrance of the tent. “Can you be any louder?” 

Nikki smiled, “MAX! You're okay!”

Max looked at her, “Why wouldn't I be?”

“We were just worried because what we did was kinda mean”

“Worried?” Max furrowed his eyebrows, “About me?”

“Uh... duh!” Nikki flicked his nose and walked past Max, entering the tent. 

Neil just shrugged and looked at Max with a Yeah I'm just as lost as you are, look. He walked past Max and into his tent. 

Max looked back inside the tent before walking inside. He was shocked to learn that his friends were worried about him… He pushed that thought behind and walked back inside. 

Nikki was sitting on Max's bed, talking to Neil about how to maximize pudding consumption without getting more pudding.

“-Then, by taking smaller bites, you pull a little sneaky in your brain and make it think you're eating more!” Nikki smiled and pointed to her brain, “Am I a genius or what?”

“I mean, that kinda actually makes sense, by minimizing your income, you are increasing your time of pudding enjoyment.” Neil was surprised something that came out if Nikki's mouth had a bit of logic to it. 

“ORRRRR…” Max sat down beside Nikki, “I don't know- crazy idea here… You could just get more pudding.”

Neil laughed, “He's got a good point”

“Nah, you guys just aren't on my level of woke-ness” Nikki laughed. She took off her shoes and pulled herself onto Max's bed, fully laying down now. 

“Guys… Why are you here?” Max watched as Nikki made herself comfortable in his own bed. 

“Oh, I already told you, we wanted to make sure you were okay”

Max looked at Nikki, “Well, I'm fine…”

Nikki saw Max's stuffed animal and grabbed it, “Where did you even get this in the first place?”

Max quickly snatched the bear out of her hands, “Hey leave that alone, it's not yours!”

“God Max, she was just holding it” Neil jumped into Nikki's defense. 

“She can't just barge in here and take things that don't fucking belong to her!” 

“She isn't taking anything… relax, stop getting so worked up over a stupid bear.”

“It's not a ‘stupid bear’ you dipshit” Max was beginning to get irritated.

“Well you're acting like it's some kind of expensive item that everyone wishes they had, I mean look at it it's practically falling apart!” Neil was also beginning to feel a bit worked up.

Nikki sensed the environment turn hostile and tried to calm the two boys down, “Hey Guys-”, it was pointless

“It's worth more than everything you fucking own you piece of shit asshole” Max felt his eyes fill with tears.

“Is it?”

“Yes”

“Are you sure about that?” Neil narrowed his eyes.

“Positive.”

“No, I don't think s-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP NEIL!” Max snapped.

“YOU'RE ARGUING OVER A FUCKING STUFFED BEAR MAX! WHAT ABOUT THIS SHIT IS SO FUCKING SPECIAL TO YOU!?!” 

“EVERYTHING!”

Neil got quiet. 

“Mr. Honeynuts was the only thing I was allowed to bring to this fucking camp…other than clothes and shit. It's the first and only thing my parents gave to me as a gift.” Max's voice cracked.

Nikki looked back and forth between the two boys. One was steaming mad and the other was about to be a puddle of tears and it's not the people she expected it from. She sat down beside Max again and looked at the bear in his hands. “The only thing?”

Max's silence confirmed her question, “What about on your birthday? Or Christmas!?” Nikki sounded genuinely worried. 

Max shook his head and wiped his eyes. 

“That sucks man…I'm sorry.” Neil looked down at the bear. His anger slowly disappearing, being replaced by guilt, “You’re parent’s sound like assholes.”

Max nodded, he didn't like talking about his family to people, let alone to his friends. It sucks having to live with them but having to talk to your friends about them was almost just as worse. 

“But it doesn't matter… I'm used to it.” Max quickly tried to shift the mood because he wasn't looking to show this side of himself to his friends, He threw the bear under the bed, “I don't really care anyway.”

Neil looked over to his friend, he knew Max didn't mean that… but he wasn't gonna ask any more questions. Except he did, “How did you get it?” 

Max looked up at Neil and back down to the bear. He shrugged, “It was a long time ago.” 

Nikki put her chin on Max's shoulder, “How long ago?” 

Max looked down at his feet and felt tears well back up, “Uh. Guys, I don't think I-”

Max was cut off by Neil hopping off the bed and reaching under it. He pulled out the bear and dusted it off. He placed it on Max's lap. 

Max took it in his hands, he remembered how uneasy he felt when he thought he lost it, he sighed, “My mom gave it to me. On a random day. Just... out of nowhere. She took it out the car and she just handed it over. She didn’t say anything, and she never mentioned it after. I kept it with me ever since. It was like, she was telling me something without words. She wrote Mr. Honeynuts’ name on a small piece of paper and taped it on.” Max went quiet for a second, “I hoped this small speck of hope, that this means something more than she was letting on,” He ran his fingers over the loose threads and felt tears run down his face, “but now it’s falling apart.” He choked back a sob and wiped his face with his sleeves. “Look at it. It’s dying.”

Nikki reached over and touched the button that was supposed to be the eye, “No it’s not.” 

“Fucking look at it… it’s on its last thread and once it’s broken and I can’t fix it then it’s over. It’ll be gone. And here I am crying like a fucking little bitch over it. Who the fuck cries over a pathetic toy?” Max resisted the urge to just curl up in a ball and scream, he already made a scene in front of his friends. 

Neil didn’t know what to do, so he just awkwardly reached over and patted his back, “I cried once because I lost my TI-89 calculator.”

Nikki and Max turned to face Neil, they were both wearing a What the fuck? expression.

“Listen, I had installed a bunch of apps on it and it was ready to be further programmed okay. I put a lot of effort into it.”

“Well…” Nikki tilted her head, “What happened to it?”

“Oh, my mom donated it.” 

“Oof.” 

“Big oof,” Max added.

Neil looked at Max, “I'm sorry for making fun of…” He looked down at the stuffed bear, “... Mr. Honeynuts. I shouldn't have said what I said and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.” 

Max rolled his eyes, “Stop fucking apologizing. There's no point when-”

“No, you see, this is your problem, you build walls and don’t let anyone though. Then you complain when no one pays attention.” 

Max looked up at Neil.

“Stop building them higher. Take a moment and add a door, or a window, and let people in. We aren’t going to make you feel bad on purpose-”

“Yeah,” Nikki cut in, “Plus, we aren’t friends if we don’t degrade each other just a little bit.”

“Exactly,” Neil smiled at Nikki and looked back at Max, “We care Max. I care, Nikki cares, David cares, and hell, maybe Gwen cares!” 

Max smiled and wiped his face with his sleeves again, “Thanks.” Max didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t used to talking about his feelings. 

Nikki laid down on Max’s bed, “Welp, now that we got that out of our system, let’s get back to discussing the important issues: Pudding”

Max and Neil laughed.

The trio spent the rest of the day in the tent, laughing and talking about anything. Max was grateful for having such great friends, but... shhhhhh don’t tell them he thinks that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. How are we doing?
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it! I began writing this in like January, right after I finished my previous story and then got sidetracked with school and all. Finished it in like February and here it is now... the last day of March. Wow... I'm so organized. 
> 
> Anyways, feel free to comment and review, those are always welcomed and Happy Reads my little shits! XD


	2. The Story Behind the bear (Revised)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM! This isn't the story you were probably expecting... haha. but I was looking through some of my old work cuz I needed some inspiration and I came across this one and realized that GOD DAMN this fic has so many errors in it... so I fixed them... :D I left the other one intact because I just want to compare and see how much my writing has improved and I thought you guys might like to see it too! YAY! 
> 
> I switched some things up so it's not exactly the same... enjoy!

All Max heard after Gwen drove away was the sound of mocking and teasing laughter. The type of laughter that could rip someone to shreds... at least, that what it felt like to Max.

He looked down at the stuffed bear that was laying on the ground in front of the mess hall and back up to his friends. They were all pointing fingers at him and he wasn’t sure what to do or how to even react, he just kinda stood there. He wasn’t used to being the one being picked on, usually, it was the other way around, but he wasn’t going to let his so-called friends get the better of him.

He let out an annoyed sigh, “Ha Ha Very funny, why don’t you assholes go annoy the shit out of someone else?” Max said as he rolled his eyes and picked the bear off the ground. 

Nerf snickered, “HAHA YOU BABY! No one uses a teddy bear anymore!" He stepped closer to Max and placed his hand on his shoulder, " Also, we have no one else to annoy, you put this on yourself… you know, for needing a teddy bear.” 

Max took a step back, “No, I don't need it-”

“-Okay, but you have it…people usually have stuffed animals and objects that hold meaning because they desire comfort. To obtain that desire, they develop a strong emotional attachment towards an object and use it as their support," Nerf pointed to the bear, "Here, in this case, it’s a teddy bear. I understand that this is something you connect to and it might be one - if not the only thing you love...but for the sake of my character and reputation, I have to make it seem like you're a little pussy so… HAHA!” 

Max hated Nerf and his deep lectures, who gave him the right to be so fucking loud? 

Everyone else kept on laughing. 

Max gripped the bear tighter, “That doesn't mean I-”

“-Come on Max," Nerris cut him off, "not even Harrison owns toy, and he the weakest kid here... we didn't expect YOU, out of all people, to have one-” 

Harrison frowned, “Shut up. I'm not weak! I just take my time with things... that's all.”

Max didn't say anything. 

“Awwww, does little Max miss mommy and daddy?” Nerf poked Max and grabbed his toy bear, to which Max instinctively tried to take back, “Ha look at him! He does!” Nerf held the bear high above his head.

Max was tempted to reach up and try to grab it, but he wasn’t in the mood to embarrass himself even more. Also, Nerf didn't know shit about his parents. Sure, half the things they were saying were true, but people didn’t need to know it. 

Max did the first thing the thought of and kicked Nerf in the shins causing him to drop the bear. He quickly picked it up and dusted it off. 

“Fuck all of you,” Max said as he flipped them off and walked towards his tent.

As he was walking he heard someone walk up behind him. he assumed it was Nikki since she isn't really good at picking up social cues, “Nikki not now-”

“Actually…,” the voice wasn’t the voice Max had expected it to be. He turned around and realized it wasn’t Nikki, it was Preston... great. 

Max sighed, “What the fuck do you want?”

“So, you know how I’m known for being able to read people right?" he said, "Well, I have got to say… your performance could have used a bit more emphasis.”

“What?” 

“You have to sell, not tell. I would have thought you were good at lying but boy-oh-boy was I wrong.”

Max rolled his eyes, “Bye Preston.” 

“Wait no! I’m telling you, you aren’t fooling anyone! We both know you love that stuffed toy - what’s his name again? Mr.-”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Mr. Shut-the-fuck-up…. Fitting. I could've sworn I heard you call him something else. ” Preston said laughing, but not in a mean way, “I’ll leave you to it, Max.” 

He watched as Preston made his way back to the mess hall and kept on walking towards his tent.

“If it makes you feel any better, I sleep with my spaceship.” Space Kid appeared out of nowhere holding a small stuffed spaceship. He held it out in front of 

Max ignored him. He didn’t need his pity and he also didn’t feel like dealing with him. 

Space Kid was expecting a response but when he didn’t get one he just smiled, “Oh okay. See ya, Max.” 

He walked inside his tent and plopped himself on his bed. He had his bear in his hands and began picking the dirt off. He remembered the panic that overtook when he realized it was missing. The stupid raid, stupid wood scouts, stupid fucking camp. The worst part was the fact that he really couldn't tell anyone about it. It wasn't a big deal. 

He held the bear close to him and rolled over in his bed. That bear was the only thing that proves that someone actually loved him. Proof that someone actually cared for him once upon a time. 

“Fuck.” 

He felt tears fill his eyes and he shut them tight so they won't fall. He wasn't crying about how his friends treated him though, he could care less... Although it would be pretty annoying to have to deal with their constant reminder that he owns a fucking bear. 

He was crying more over the fact that his life was so fucked up… Nerf was right, he relies on an inanimate object to calm him down, how pathetic is that? Everyone else has someone they can turn to in their family, and what does he have? No one. Absolutely no one. Why did he have no one? It's not fair, and it's fucking bullshit because when parent’s day rolls around... no one is going to show up. hile everyone else has fun with their mom and dad, he'll be sitting all by himself with Mr. HoneyNuts. But, he'll cross that bridge when he gets there. 

Max stared at the tent walls, letting his mind bring back memories he wishes weren't over and hope he doesn't want to hope for… If that makes sense. Of course, nothing Max ever thought of concerning his family made sense. 

He wiped away the tears with the sleeves of his hoodie and drifted into a dreamless sleep. 

********************************************************************

Outside, back at the mess hall, all the campers had dispersed. Neil was sitting next to Nikki, who was inhaling a pudding cup. 

“Max has been gone an awfully long time,” Nikki said with her mouth full of pudding. 

Neil nodded and ate a spoonful of chocolate pudding, “He’s probably still in his tent or something. I'm sure he’s fine.”

Nikki smiled at Neil, “Yeah, He’s Max.” 

“Exactly.” 

“...So, we should go check on him, right?” Nikki asked as she tossed the empty plastic into the trash.

“If you want to,” He replied. Neil didn’t want to seem like he was worried about him but he had to admit, he was a little worried. He recognized that laughing at him wasn't the best decision to make... 

Neil looked out the window towards the camp tents. He hummed in thought. “You wanna go now or-” He was cut off by the sound of the door, and Nikki was gone. Neil sighed, “Jesus Christ…”

Nikki made her way towards Max's tent, which was also Neil's tent. She was about to step inside before Neil pulled her back. "-OOF”

“You can't just barge into someone's tent Nikki, you have to knock first.”

“But there is nowhere to knock-”

“The tent flap thing can make a noise” Neil replied as he gestured over to the tent entrance.

“But wouldn't that open the tent?”

“Not if-”

“-God fucking dammit- will you two shut the fuck up?” Max stood at the entrance of the tent and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, “Like, can you be any louder?” 

Nikki smiled, “MAX! You're okay!”

Max looked at her, “Why wouldn't I be?”

“We were just worried because... well... what happened with Nerf and them.”

“Worried?” Max furrowed his eyebrows, “About me?”

“Uh... duh!” Nikki booped his nose and walked past Max, entering the tent. 

Neil just shrugged and looked at Max with a _Yeah I'm just as lost as you are_ , look. He followed Nikki into his tent. 

Max looked back inside the tent before walking inside. He was shocked to learn that his friends were worried about him… Since when were they worried? Last time he checked, they were laughing and pointing fingers too. 

Nikki was sitting on Max's bed, talking to Neil about how to maximize pudding consumption without getting more pudding.

“-Then, by taking smaller bites, you pull a little sneaky in your brain and make it think you're eating more!” Nikki smiled and pointed to her brain, “Am I a genius or what?”

“I mean, that kinda actually makes sense, by minimizing your consumption, you are technically increasing your time of pudding enjoyment,” Neil said. He was surprised something that came out of Nikki's mouth had a bit of logic to it. 

“-ORRRRR…” Max cut in as he sat down beside Nikki, “you could- I don't know- crazy idea here… just get more pudding.”

Neil laughed, “He's got a point.”

“Nah, you guys just aren't on my level of woke-ness,” Nikki laughed. She took off her shoes and pulled herself onto Max's bed, fully laying down now. 

“Guys… Why are you here? I was sleeping.” Max watched as Nikki made herself comfortable in his own bed. 

“Oh, I already told you, we wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Max looked at Nikki, “Well, I'm fine… but I kinda wanna go back to sleep.”

"It's five in the evening, you can sleep later," Neil replied as he laid in his bed. 

Nikki saw Max's stuffed animal and grabbed it, “Where did you even get this in the first place?”

Max quickly snatched the bear out of her hands a bit too aggressively, “Hey leave that alone, it's not yours.”

“She was just holding it,” Neil countered, jumping into Nikki's defense. 

“Well, she can't just barge in here and take things that don't fucking belong to her.” 

“She isn't taking anything… relax, stop getting so worked up over a stupid bear.”

“It's not a ‘stupid bear’ you dipshit” Max was beginning to get irritated.

“Well you're acting like it's some kind of expensive item that everyone wishes they had, I mean look at it it's practically falling apart...” Neil was also beginning to feel a bit worked up, he could hear the attitude in his own voice.

Nikki sensed the environment turning hostile and tried to calm the two boys down, “okay lets all just calm down-" 

“It's worth more than everything you fucking own you piece of shit asshole,” Max felt his eyes fill with tears.

“Is it?”

“Yes," his voice cracked. 

“Are you sure about that?” Neil narrowed his eyes.

Max nodded. If he were to open his mouth his voice would betray him more. 

“If that helps you sleep at night... oh wait... It does. Haha.”

“Shut the fuck up Neil!” Max snapped.

“You're the one arguing over a fucking toy! What the hell makes that bear so fucking important?!” 

“Everything.”

Neil got quiet. He might have said some rude things that his mind was just now registering, but he was getting frustrated at Max for always pushing him to his limits. He was just trying to help...

“Mr. Honeynuts was the only thing I was allowed to bring to this fucking camp…other than clothes and shit. It's the first and _only_ thing my parents gave to me as a gift.” Max's voice cracked.

Nikki looked back and forth between the two boys. One was steaming mad and the other was about to be a puddle of tears and it's not the people she expected it from. She sat up and looked at the bear in his hands, “The only thing?”

Max's silence confirmed her question, “What about on your birthday? Or Christmas!?” Nikki sounded genuinely worried. 

Max shook his head and wiped his eyes. 

Now Neil felt like shit, “That sucks man…I'm sorry,” Neil said looked down at the bear. His anger slowly disappearing, being replaced by guilt, “You’re parent’s sound like assholes.”

Max nodded, he didn't like talking about his family to people, let alone to his friends. It sucks having to live with them but having to talk to your friends about them was almost just as worse. They didn't need to know that his parents forgot he existed and was thrown into a summer camp to get rid of him for three fucking months for two years straight.

“But it doesn't matter… I'm used to it,” Max replied, trying to quickly shift the mood because he wasn't looking to cry in front of his friends. He threw the bear to the side, “I don't really care anyway.”

Neil looked over to his friend, he knew Max didn't mean that… but he wasn't gonna ask any more questions. Except he did, “How did you get it?” 

Max looked up at Neil and back down to the bear. He shrugged, “It was a long time ago.” 

Nikki put her chin on Max's shoulder, “How long ago?” 

Max looked down at his feet and felt tears well back up, “it doesn't matter.”

Max felt Nikki get off from his shoulder and saw her grab the bear. She placed it on Max's lap and smiled. 

Max took it in his hands, “My mom gave it to me. On a random day. Just... out of nowhere. She took it out of the car and she just handed it over. She didn’t say anything, and she never mentioned it after," he sniffled, "I kept it with me ever since."

Max was crying now. He brought the sleeves of his hoodie to his face and was trying so hard to not make noise.

Neil looked at Nikki, who was looking at Max with sadness in her eyes. She saw Neil and there was a mutual understanding of empathy. 

"Well, that sucks," Neil said, "I couldn't imagine what that must be like..."

Max nodded and wiped his face, "Yeah. It was like, she was telling me something without words. She wrote Mr. Honeynuts’ name on a small piece of paper and taped it on.” Max got quiet for a second, “I hoped this small speck of hope, that this means something more than she was letting on, you know...” He ran his fingers over the loose threads and felt tears run down his face, “...but now it’s falling apart.” He choked back a sob and wiped his face with his sleeves. “Look at it. It’s dying.”

Nikki reached over and touched the button that was supposed to be the eye, “No it’s not.” 

“Fucking look at it… it’s on its last thread and once it’s broken, and I can’t fix it, it's done. Then it’s over. It’ll be gone. And here I am crying like a fucking little bitch over it. Who the fuck cries over a pathetic toy?” Max resisted the urge to just curl up in a ball and scream, he already made a scene in front of his friends. 

Neil didn’t know what to do, so he just awkwardly reached over and patted his back, “I cried once because I lost my TI-89 calculator.”

Nikki and Max turned to face Neil and both raised their eyebrow in confusion. 

“Listen, I had installed a bunch of apps on it and it was ready to be further programmed okay. I put a lot of effort into it.”

“Well…” Nikki tilted her head, “What happened to it?”

“Oh, my mom donated it.” 

“Oof.” 

“Big oof,” Max added.

Neil looked at Max, “I'm sorry for making fun of…” He looked down at the stuffed bear, “... Mr. Honeynuts. I shouldn't have said what I said and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.” 

Max rolled his eyes, “Stop fucking apologizing. There's no point when-”

“-No, you see, this is your problem," Neil cut Max off, "you build walls around yourself and don’t let anyone though. Then you complain when no one pays attention.” 

Max looked up at Neil.

“Stop building. Take a moment and add a door, or a window, and let people in. We aren’t going to make you feel bad on purpose-”

“Yeah,” Nikki cut in, “Plus, we aren’t friends if we don’t degrade each other just a little bit.”

“Exactly,” Neil smiled at Nikki and looked back at Max, “We care Max. I care, Nikki cares, David cares, and hell, maybe Gwen cares!” 

Max smiled and wiped his face with his sleeves again. Max didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t used to talking about his feelings. 

Nikki laid down on Max’s bed, “Welp, now that we got that out of our system, let’s get back to discussing the important issues: Pudding”

Max and Neil laughed.

The trio spent the rest of the day in the tent, laughing and talking about anything. Max was grateful for having such great friends. he wasn't going to run to them with his problems, that shit takes time, but at least he can count on someone. 

But... shhhhhh don’t tell them he thinks that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think this story would make me cry twice but here I am... crying and full of feels. I'm actually surprised to see how far my writing has improved... I might not be a full-on disappointment after all... well- 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little revision and Happy reads my little Shits! See you all soon!


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